The village

Marcus was walking towards the village, because he knew he had to stay there if he wanted to survive the bubonic plague. It was a cloudy day, so he started to walk faster to avoid possible rain.

He was completely alone, and he was very thankful for that because it reduced significantly the odds of him dying this week of the disease. As he walked, he remembered the faith of his family, and almost started crying again. He missed them a lot, and everytime he thought of them sad feelings and nostalgia got the best of him. He had lost everything. Why was he the only survivor? How did he manage to not catch the diasease? Why was he considered the "lucky one" if everyone he loved was now gone?

With this in mind, he arrived to the village. There was no one there except for an old man sitting on a chair. As soon as he saw Marcus arriving, he yelled at him very loudly:

-"stop".

Marcus obeyed, and told the mysterious man:

-"I am not looking for any troubles, i just want a place to stay. I know this village reputation and fame."

The old man pointed at a tree nearby. Marcus was confused, but the elder said:

-"Leave the money there".

So Marcus went to this tree, and left there his bag of silver coins, which was more than enough payment for a roof.

"Why do you looked so surprised?"-the old man asked.

"Do you think we are the village with the best reputation for nothing? In here, we take the proper precautions needed to survive"

Marcus didnt say anything, and the old guy threw him something: it was a key. Marcus looked at him while he pointed to a nearby cabin. The old man just said:

-"There is a river a mile away for you to wash yourself as often as you can. You will find in your cabin candles for a week, and enough food to keep you alive. It is prohibited to go outside the cabin, unless you are going to the river I mentioned before. You must avoid human contact at all costs, but if you start to feel ill, we have a doctor in the village that you can visit."

Marcus noodded as an answer and headed to the cabin. He was very tired and it was getting late. Once he arrived he went to sleep immediately.

The next day, the sun was shining and it was hot, so Marcus decided to go to the river to wash himself. Being clean was very important to be healthy. So he stepped outside and he started walking towards the river, until he saw something: a woman got out of the cabin next to his. Marcus was very surprised, because she had severe skin lesions and she looked very sick.

Marcus decided to hide behind a tree, and followed her from the distance. (breaking the rule of not going out except to the river) She started walking with difficulty, but not towards the river, just to another cabin, and Marcus realized she was going to see the doctor.

She knocked and a young man appeared, and let her in. Marcus got closer and found a spot from which he could see what was going on inside the cabin. He overheard the doctor saying: "I am afraid that you have the disease." The girl started crying, and the doctor told her that is was bad, but that he could try a solution. It was risky, but it is what all doctors of this time did to help their pacients.

"We have to get rid of the bad blood." He said, as he grabbed a knife. The woman screamed and cried, but the doctor explained to her that it was the only way to heal, so in the end she agreed. She looked very scared. The doctor cut her in the arm and she started bleeding a lot right away, and then he said that it was risky but it was important that the blood left her body and she needed to produce new blood. The woman looked dizzy, and clearly the cut was not helping her. The doctor told her to come back tomorrow, to see the progress, and she left the cabin.

Marcus, very worried about her, followed her back to the cabin. The girl could barely walk, but she made it to her cabin, or at least to the door, because when she was about to enter, she fell to the ground. Marcus, very alarmed, yelled for help, but no one in the village came to her aid. So he tried to help her himself and attempted to stop her bleeding. It was very difficult to do so but he did his best. He also gave her food and water, but Marcus didnt realize that it was too late. A couple of hours later the woman was dead.

After all this, Marcus felt devastated. He was very sad for this woman, and he could not avoid thinking about his own family, that had the same horrible disease and suffered in a similar way.

He decided to try to clear his mind, and he went for a walk towards the river. Marcus was also worried that they would kick him out of the village for breaking the main rule of avoiding human contact. After a while, he arrived at the river, and he went for a swim there and cleaned himself. That afternoon, Marcus stayed for hours near the river, and cried alone in the grass after all that happend, and then he returned to the village because it was getting dark already.

He went to sleep early, and could not fall asleep in hours. Once he did, he had terrible nightmares, about a demon chasing him. He woke up in the middle of the night, with sweat all over his body. He had a terrible headeache, and felt pain all over his body. Marcus lit up a candle and saw with horror that he had some weird things all over his skin...